


I'm With The Band

by NeenaO



Category: I'm With The Band - Fandom
Genre: Casual Sex, Drama, F/M, Family Drama, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Male-Female Friendship, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Rock Stars, Rock and Roll, Romance, Romantic Friendship, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 17:16:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3700607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeenaO/pseuds/NeenaO
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She’s an aspiring tattoo artist with a taste for the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. So when her best friend Ian asks her to fill in as manager on his band’s upcoming tour, twenty-four-year-old “Mack” Addams can hardly refuse—especially considering her recently unemployed status.</p><p>But to Mack, Ian is more than just a rock god and BFF.  Their friendship has had a few “benefits” from time to time, bringing steamy chemistry to the table that’s second to none. If she wants to be an efficient band manager, she knows the secret hookups will have to stop—but it’s not long before the pair is climbing in bed for an encore performance.</p><p>Suddenly, being with the band isn’t all fun and games, as deeply held feelings bubble to the surface and panic causes a major rift between the best friends. As Mack and Ian try to figure out what they truly mean to each other, new jealousies and rivalries ignite plenty of drama on Lost in Disneyland’s long-awaited tour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm With The Band

**Author's Note:**

> I published I'm With The Band back in Feb and wanted to share a sample and various slices of life for current and new readers. This is sample of the first chapter, but will post more soon.

"And that's about the time she walked away from me. Nobody likes you when you're twenty-three…"

The blaring sound of Blink-182 ripped Mackenzie from her sleep. _What time is it?_ Her eyes flicked over to her alarm clock as she scrambled to locate her phone underneath all the various sketches littering her desk. Apparently it was just past seven. _That was the best fifteen minutes of my life._

"What's up, rock star?" she mumbled into the receiver.

"Not you, from the sound of things." Ian chuckled.

Just as she was about to deny his accusation, a yawn snuck its way out of her. "Busted. I stayed up and worked on some sketches when I got in last night. Guess I dozed off, but I'm up now. So what do ya need?" she asked, peeling one of her smaller masterpieces from her sweat-slicked cheek or maybe that was drool.

Ian took a deep breath before he spoke again. "Promise me you won't freak out."

Hearing those words instantly put her on red alert; when Ian told her not to freak out it usually meant she _should_ definitely freak out. She briefly recalled a time, in tenth grade, when she'd enlisted his help in putting highlights in her hair. He'd said those exact words. The memory made her cringe. She took a deep breath, silently counted to ten, and braced herself for whatever he was about to throw at her.

"Why would I freak out?" She decided to go with a question so she could avoid making a promise she was bound to break.

The silence on the other end lasted so long she had to check to see if the call was still connected. Seeing it was only made her anxiety increase. If Ian wasn't talking, something big was definitely up; he was the king of words.

"Claire quit…so we were hoping you could cover for her during the tour."

He blurted out the words so fast it took her brain a few extra seconds to process what her ears had heard. "What the…we leave today," she couldn't help stating the obvious. "What kind of manager quits the day a band leaves on tour? What the hell happened?"

She switched her phone over to speaker and stood up to stretch as she waited for an explanation. It dawned on her that it probably hadn't been the best idea to sit at her desk all night before she had to sit on a plane for five plus hours, but once she started drawing, she couldn't stop

"Any day now." She redirected her attention back to Ian as she plopped back into her chair.

"She was hooking up with Seth."

"That's not news. I'm gonna need a little bit more than that."

"Well, she caught him bending her roommate over in the bathroom at the bar last night. So she's out," he tried to sound indifferent, but his exasperation was evident.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Unable to keep her cool, she slammed her hand on her desk and immediately regretted it. _At least it's not my dominant hand,_ she thought as she rubbed it with her right hand.

"Afraid not." He let out his own yawn before he could say more.

Mack wondered when all this had happened. She'd left the bar around one the night before, and everything had been chill. She figured Ian had to be just as exhausted as she was, if not more. She didn't want to make things worse. Summer Madness is one of the summer's biggest music festivals, so landing a spot was a big deal for Ian and the rest of the guys. So Mack tried to keep calm when she spoke again, "At least we still have Bridget. She and I can totally make this work." She expected to hear some encouragement from Ian but again received nothing but silence.

"She's still coming, right?"

"No Bridget either." He sighed.

"She's Parker's girlfriend for Christ's sake." She stood again, but this time she began pacing as she tried to figure out how to get out of this poorly written _Twilight Zone_ episode. "She was going two days ago. What happened in forty-eight hours? Was she screwing Seth too?" Her tone was slightly hostile even though it wasn't meant for Ian. This was a lot to have thrown at her the day they had to leave. She hadn't done any manager work for the band in years, and even when she had, it had never been for something so major.

"She and Parker got into a fight," he paused, for a few seconds, "and they broke up…again."

This was unbelievable. There had to be something in the city's water supply. "Are they all still in high school?" Her hand was still sore, so she refrained from slamming it down again. Instead she counted to ten again.

"You know what, I'm not even shocked. Parker and Bridget do this crap every other day and Seth's dick has screwed us all over more than once in the past." The words were barely out of her mouth before they both started laughing.

"It's not funny, you know what I meant." She tried to refocus her thoughts on their current catastrophe.

"Hey, you laughed too," Ian's tone was less strained. "Plus you were technically our first manager."

"Definitely not funny."

"You're right. I don't like the idea of that either," the humor in his voice was gone.

"You guys need to hire a real manager instead of outsourcing the position to whatever chick one of you is screwing on the regular." Her words sounded bitter as they erupted from her mouth even though that wasn't how she meant for them to come out.

"I'll make sure to bring it up at the next band meeting." Ian was exasperated again. "Mack, I invited you because you're my best friend, not because I want you to be the band's lackey. So if this is too much, just say the word."

Mack knew his invitation hadn't come with ulterior motives, and in reality it was the others she was pissed at. She sat back down and stared at her phone for a while before she spoke again, "Sorry, I know how important the tour is for you guys. So whatever you need, I'm your girl."

"You've already done so much—you'll get Claire's cut, but are you sure this isn't too much?" he asked sincerely.

"I'm sure." She wasn't sure, but they were her friends and she would do whatever she could to help them.

"Thank you, Mack," he said softly, "and you're my girl regardless…I love you." He followed up with some animated smooching into the phone.

She knew she shouldn't indulge him, but she couldn't help it, and responded with her own exaggerated kissing sounds. "I love you too, loser."

Ian mumbled something then moved on, "Parker and I just left our parents' houses. We're going to grab the guys and then come get you. We should be there in an hour or so. Think you'll be ready?"

Yeah, I'm about to put my clothes on right now," she lied as she glanced over at her half-ass attempt at packing.

"All right," he squeezed so much skepticism into those two words, it was a bit comical. But he didn't call her out on anything before wrapping up the conversation.

"I love you," he whispered again.

She wouldn't admit it, but she loved when he said those words. And that terrified her because she could tell the weight behind them meant more than she deserved. Still she only hesitated for a second with her reply, "I love you too," and she meant it.

As her phone returned to its home screen, she realized there was still an unchecked voicemail from the day before. So she clicked on it and switched her phone back to speaker while she started gathering stuff for a quick shower.

"Mackenzie, I spoke to Samantha in admissions. She informed me that once again you've missed the application deadline for the upcoming semester…"

Her mother's voice quickly stripped her room of its silence, and for the second time this morning she instantly regretted a decision.

"…You can't possibly think you're going to be able to live off what you make at that horrible shop for the rest of your life, and I most certainly won't be footing the bill for your lifestyle. I think you've spent enough time playing around…"

The half-finished dragon sketch on her desk laughed at her as her mother droned on. She rolled her eyes at the taunting work in progress. She had hoped to finish it before they left, but that was out of the question now. _Maybe on the plane,_ she thought.

"…It's time that you start focusing on your education, so you can become a productive member of…"

A dry laugh erupted from her throat as she listened to her mother's words.

"…I think we should talk in person because these messages don't seem to be getting through to you. I'll stop by tomorrow and pick you up for lunch. Please be presentably dressed when I get there and…"

Even though it was only a voicemail Mack couldn't resist replying to her, "Sorry, Mother, I'll be halfway across the country for lunch."

She wasn't sure how much more her mother had to say, but she thought it was time to put her ears out of their misery. So she reached over and tapped the screen a few times before the message, and her mother's voice, disappeared.

Forty or so minutes later, she was clean, and had ninety percent of the things she needed thrown in her suitcases. While she raked her flat iron over her dark, coffee-colored mane for the hundredth time, the dragon piece caught her eye again. She figured she could probably add some more touches before the guys arrived; it wasn't like any of them were known for their punctuality.

She gave up on her hair and pulled it into a lopsided ponytail, then went back to working on her sketch. She whipped the pencil around the page as her vision became clearer to her, now that she'd stepped away from it for a while. Her mother's yammering was forgotten and her worries about the tour were pushed to the back of her mind. She was in her sanctuary and everything else would have to wait outside.

###

"Let's get this show on the road," Cole shouted, far too close to Ian as he opened the door to Mack's apartment.

He quickly made his way to her bedroom, hoping to get a few minutes alone with her before they had to get into their "just friends" roles for the other guys. He couldn't care less what any of them thought, but she didn't want them to know. And he wanted her any way he could have her.

"I thought you said you were putting your clothes on an hour ago," he said as he leaned through the doorway to her room. He couldn't hold back his smile as he watched her halt in her search for pants. He briefly wondered if he could get her out of her boy shorts too before they had to leave.

"I lied." She dressed up her confession with some innocent puppy dog eyes.

"So we can see," Parker grumbled. "Can any of you women ever be on time?"

Ian had been so wrapped up in crafting a plan to get Mack out of her undies that he didn't notice his brother had come up behind him. Before he could reprimand his older brother, Parker spoke again.

"I don't want to hear the excuses, just get ready. We don't have time to wait around for you."

Ian knew how his brother got when he was going through something with his girl, but he didn't want him taking it out on Mack.

"Look, my name isn't Bridget and talking to me like it is will get you smacked upside your head."

Ian smirked as he watched her take on his brother's attitude. He knew she didn't need him to rescue her, but sometimes he wished she did.

"I'll be ready in fifteen minutes, so you can get the hell out of my room."

"Whatever, just hurry up," Parker huffed as he turned and walked away.

"How about you _grow_ up," Mack called after him.

Ian learned years ago not to get in between those two when they went at it, but he could see how exhausted she was, so he quickly closed the door and locked it behind his brother. In all honesty the tension between the two of them wasn't the only reason he was glad to have his brother out of the room. He didn't like the idea of Parker being in the same room with Mack while she was in nothing but a t-shirt and underwear, even if she was like a sister to Parker. He turned his attention back to Mack. Her pink boy shorts definitely didn't cover enough of her backside or her incredible legs for him to be okay with another guy in the room, even if it was his brother.

"Sorry about P, you know how he gets when they go through their break ups," he said as an attempt to make up for his brother's behavior.

"I know, I'm just too tired, and they do this all the time. It's like break up, make up, repeat. I don't get why they don't just end things for good."

Ian chuckled. She was preaching to the choir, but he had an idea why it was so hard for his brother to quit Bridget. "It's hard to let someone go completely…when you're in love with them," he said softly as he fiddled with the rubber band around his wrist.

By the look on her face, he knew he had slipped up. She turned away from him and went back to throwing stuff in her suitcases. He offered a change of subject to keep from letting on to even more than he already had. "So, were you planning on wearing just your undies today, or are you going to get dressed?" he teased as he reached over and tugged her over to him by the hem of her boy shorts. He was grateful that she went along with the new line of conversation.

"I don't know, what's the weather supposed to be like today?"

Ian held back a groan as she did a little wiggle against him. Before she could pull away, he turned her around and wrapped her in his arms. "I'm not sure, but I think airport personnel would advise you to wear pants, so you don't pose a distraction." His hand slid down and gave her ass a quick squeeze.

"You know, one day I'm going to slap that smirk right off your pretty face," she said, as she started to play with a few dark brown curls that had escaped his beanie.

"You wouldn't, you love my face way too much to do that."

"Maybe not, but it's the threat that counts."

Ian ran his fingertips along her spine, but he wanted more, so he pulled her closer and buried his face in her hair. He could feel some of the tension leave their bodies the second she laid her head on his chest. Ever since they'd taken things beyond the platonic realm, the energy between them when they touched was different, and he loved it. That was the first time in weeks he'd felt even close to relaxed and he knew it had a lot to do with it being the first time in weeks that he'd gotten to hold her like that. He wanted to ask her if it felt the same for her, but the look on her face told him she was too busy overthinking something to relax.

"You all right?" he asked sincerely.

"Yeah."

One-word answers were another giveaway that she had more going on in her head than she was letting on. "Are you sure?" he pressed. "How'd things go over at the shop? Are they going to start letting you do some tats?"

When she huffed into his chest, he figured he'd at least found out part of what was weighing on her mind. Considering the circumstances, he knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help feeling happy when her arms tightened around him. She needed him and that was what he needed.

"I quit," she mumbled into his chest.

Ian stammered over questions of when and why. Shock was an understatement. Mack had worked at Inkx for over two years, and she hadn't once brought up that she was thinking about leaving.

"I quit a few days ago. I'm tired of answering phones and making appointments," she explained. "I'm probably just as good of an artist as anyone else there, but Jason won't give me a chance," her voice only cracked for a second.

"There's no 'probably,' you _are_ just as good as them, maybe better," he said with confidence, then dropped a light kiss on her forehead. He never wanted her to doubt herself or her skill. Mack was beyond talented, and if Jason couldn't see that, he was the one losing out, not her. "Why didn't you say something sooner, though?"

"Because you were dealing with band stuff and I didn't want to bother you."

"You wouldn't have been bothering me. You're more important to me than band stuff."

"Thanks, but maybe I should go back to school like my mom wants and become a lawyer like her."

He couldn't imagine such a thing. "Not even a good joke. How are things with her going anyway? Have you told her that you don't want to go back?" He heard her breath catch in her throat as he ran his left hand over the various color designs that had come to almost completely cover the chestnut skin of her arm. He needed to catch up and have her fill in some spots on his sleeve.

"Nope."

"Are you going to?"

"Nope…well at least not yet."

He huffed her name in exasperation as his hand dropped down to her wrist. He ran his thumb over the smooth letters of his name that were engraved in her flesh. She was one of the strongest people he knew, but for some reason she couldn't channel that strength when it came to talking to her mother.

"I know what you're going to say, but don't. She's not like your parents. I'll tell her as soon as I get a new job."

"Please do." He decided not to push her more on the subject. Instead he pecked her forehead one more time then released her.

"But speaking of my mother, she's stopping by for lunch. So we should probably get out of here ASAP."

He shook his head in disbelief.

"Hey, don't judge."

"No judging from me."

He tossed her his signature smirk before he went over and zipped up one of her suitcases. He let out a little sigh as he watched her pull on a pair of jeans and went to close the other suitcase. He'd let himself get distracted from his initial plan of getting her out of her clothes, but maybe there was still time _._ Once she had her sketchbook and other art supplies in her backpack, he decided to make his move. He stopped her just as her hand went to turn the knob to open her bedroom door.

"I'm glad you're coming on tour with me." His lips brushed her ear, as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I am too," she whispered to the door.

"God, you're so tense." He let his lips trail down her neck and over to her shoulder. "Why don't we make the guys wait a little longer, and I can help you relax before the flight." He pressed himself further against her to stress his point.

"I thought we said we weren't going to do that anymore."

" _We_ didn't say that, _you_ said that."

"Well, I think we should…"

"Join the mile high club?" he asked only half joking, as he teased her earlobe between his teeth.

"Ha! I don't think they'll let me have enough of those mini bottles of Jack to make that happen. We should…"

"Get going before Parker has another tantrum," he cut her off again, since he knew he wasn't going to get her to cave.

"Yes, unless you want to listen to us go at it again."

Since Ian wanted to be the one going at it with her, in an entirely different way, and that clearly wasn't going to happen, he saw no point in putting his brother in an even shittier mood. So when she reached for the door the second time, he didn't stop her. Instead he interlaced the fingers of their free hands.

He mentally declared her hallway was too short the second she pulled her hand from his as they reached the entryway to the living room.

**Author's Note:**

> Like the story so far? Head over to Amazon and get a copy today. 
> 
>  
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/With-The-Band-Neena-ONeal-ebook/dp/B00T4VSPEO


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